SISTERS AND BROTHERS
When I was a little girl I would look at other little girls that had sisters and be jealous that they got to live with their best friend or got to play dolls with someone at home. I remember praying for a sister when I was super young and then being disappointed when I got older and I never got one.
I grew up with a brother that is 13 months older than me. He was and still is always just one step ahead of me. Even though we were close growing up and we don’t have a huge age gap, having a brother and having a sister is totally different. I love having a brother that protects me and cares about me and will scare someone away if I need him too, but I also have always desired a sister to relate with and cry with and do all the girl things with together.
Coming on the race I didn’t think my prayer as a small girl would be answered… but it has.
For a portion my race I lived in a flat in Africa where me and my 5 sisters cooked together, cleaned together, worked together, ate together, prayed together, planned together, sometimes bathed together (you do what you have to do), slept together, laughed together, cried together, shared clothes with each other, puked together (again… sometimes it happens), did each others hair, lifted each other up, almost burnt down kitchens together (again… sometimes things happen), gave constructive feedback to one another when needed, watched movies together, ate a tub of ice cream together, and did everything together.
These girls are my sisters.
Then teams changed and the sisterhood I gained and grew changed. I went from 5 sisters to 3 brothers and 2 sisters.
These two girls became an even tighter group that would hide when the boys made fun of us, vent to one another when life got hard and gave us a new appreciation for sisterhood living amongst brothers.
These three boys would scare me, threaten me, and intimidate me… and also sit outside with me as I cried about my future, would listen as I vented, would laugh at me when I was stupid, would make sure I was okay when I I obviously wasn’t, and would be brothers to me.
The amount of comfortability we have with one another would shock people if they stayed with us for just one day… sometimes I’m even weirded out by us.
Yes we have fights and yes we don’t always agree but honestly… I love that. I love that our friendship is deeper than just rainbows and butterflies and that it is deep enough that we can overcome fights and be stronger afterwards.
We choose to love eachother. We choose to sit with one another. We choose to lift each other up. We choose to help eachother. We choose to call each other higher. We choose to accept eachother. We choose to encourage each other. We choose to forgive each other. We choose. We choose. We choose.
We had a choice to take advantage of this opportunity… and because of it my heart breaks everyday at the thought of leaving them oh so dang soon.
Living in community is so hard but so so so so so fun and good.
I never thought coming on race that my favorite part would be the community I gained. It has been so sweet for me to have these girls and these girls and boys and to know that they are my rocks. I know that after the race they will still be rocks and that I have homes I can go too whenever I need something in the future.
I started the race with a brother and I am ending my race with SISTERS and NEW BROTHERS. How awesome!? 🙂
Thanks for reading! I love you all! Thanks for supporting me! God bless!
